Lego Åhléns City

Head to the second floor of this famous Stockholm store, and you'll spot something intriguing nestled near the toilets. There, you'll see a miniature Lego model of the store.

Åhléns is a Swedish department store that has existed since 1899. It has dominated the retail landscape for almost that entire time.

The company started out as a post-order company that only sold portraits of the royal family. But after getting hundreds of thousands of orders, the owners knew that they were onto something and slowly started to diversify their inventory.

Eventually, the company started opening physical locations for people to visit. The first of these was in Insjon and the second in southern Stockholm. In 1964, the store opened a gigantic warehouse right next to Stockholm’s central train station and above the central metro hub. Because of its busy location, it became the most popular Åhléns in the country. Current estimates say that around 20 percent of all the company’s sales happen at Åhléns City.

In 2014, on Åhléns City’s 50th birthday, the staff celebrated with large discounts and special events. The shop also commissioned a Lego model of the building at SEWbrick, a company that specializes in Lego models. The shop was faithfully recreated with about 15,000 bricks on a 1:42 scale. This included the famous golden clock and brand name that dominates the central city landscape. For years, it was located in the basement near the escalators, it's now moved to the second floor, next to the toilets.

If you look closely, you'll even see two figures carry an even smaller Lego model into the building! Legoception!